Speech Accepting Nomination for Vice Presidentby Geraldine Ferraro

July 19, 1984

Ladies and gentlemen of the convention: My name is Geraldine
Ferraro. I stand before you to proclaim tonight: America is the
land where dreams can come true for all of us.

As I stand before the American people and think of the honor
this great convention has bestowed upon me, I recall the words
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who made America stronger by
making America more free.

He said: "Occasionally in life there are moments which
cannot be completely explained by words. Their meaning can only
be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart."

Tonight is such a moment for me.

My heart is filled with pride.

My fellow citizens, I proudly accept your nomination for
vice president of the United States.

And I am proud to run with a man who will be one of the
great presidents of this century, Walter F. Mondale.

Tonight, the daughter of a woman whose highest goal was a
future for her children talks to our nation's oldest party about
a future for us all.

Tonight, the daughter of working Americans tells all
Americans that the future is within our reach - if we're willing
to reach for it.

Tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been
chosen to run for [vice] president in the new land my father
came to love.

Our faith that we can shape a better future is what the
American dream is all about. The promise of our country is that
the rules are fair. If you work hard and play by the rules, you
can earn your share of America's blessings.

Those are the beliefs I learned from my parents. And those
are the values I taught my students as a teacher in the public
schools of New York City.

At night, I went to law school. I became an assistant
district attorney, and I put my share of criminals behind bars.
I believe: If you obey the law, you should be protected. But if
you break the law, you should pay for your crime.

When I first ran for Congress, all the political experts
said a Democrat could not win in my home district of Queens. But
I put my faith in the people and the values that we shared. And
together, we proved the political experts wrong.

In this campaign, Fritz Mondale and I have put our faith in
the people. And we are going to prove the experts wrong again.

We are going to win, because Americans across this country
believe in the same basic dream.

Last week, I visited Elmore, Minn., the small town where
Fritz Mondale was raised. And soon Fritz and Joan will visit our
family in Queens.

Nine hundred people live in Elmore. In Queens, there are
2,000 people on one block. You would think we would be
different, but we're not.

Children walk to school in Elmore past grain elevators; in
Queens, they pass by subway stops. But, no matter where they
live, their future depends on education - and their parents are
willing to do their part to make those schools as good as they
can be.

In Elmore, there are family farms; in Queens, small
businesses. But the men and women who run them all take pride in
supporting their families through hard work and initiative.

On the Fourth of July in Elmore, they hang flags out on Main
Street; in Queens, they fly them over Grand Avenue. But all of
us love our country, and stand ready to defend the freedom that
it represents.

Americans want to live by the same set of rules. But under
this administration, the rules are rigged against too many of
our people.

It isn't right that every year, the share of taxes paid by
individual citizens is going up, while the share paid by large
corporations is getting smaller and smaller. The rules say:
Everyone in our society should contribute their fair share.

It isn't right that this year Ronald Reagan will hand the
American people a bill for interest on the national debt larger
than the entire cost of the federal government under John F.
Kennedy.

Our parents left us a growing economy. The rules say: We
must not leave our kids a mountain of debt.

It isn't right that a woman should get paid 59 cents on the
dollar for the same work as a man. If you play by the rules, you
deserve a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.

It isn't right that - that if trends continue - by the year
2000 nearly all of the poor people in America will be women and
children. The rules of a decent society say, when you distribute
sacrifice in times of austerity, you don't put women and
children first.

It isn't right that young people today fear they won't get
the Social Security they paid for, and that older Americans fear
that they will lose what they have already earned. Social
Security is a contract between the last generation and the next,
and the rules say: You don't break contracts. We're going to
keep faith with older Americans.

We hammered out a fair compromise in the Congress to save
Social Security. Every group sacrificed to keep the system
sound. It is time Ronald Reagan stopped scaring our senior
citizens.

It isn't right that young couples question whether to bring
children into a world of 50,000 nuclear warheads.

That isn't the vision for which Americans have struggled for
more than two centuries. And our future doesn't have to be that
way.

Change is in the air, just as surely as when John Kennedy
beckoned America to a new frontier; when Sally Ride rocketed
into space and when Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for the office of
president of the United States.

By choosing a woman to run for our nation's second highest
office, you sent a powerful signal to all Americans. There are
no doors we cannot unlock. We will place no limits on
achievement.

If we can do this, we can do anything.

Tonight, we reclaim our dream. We're going to make the rules
of American life work fairly for all Americans again.

To an Administration that would have us debate all over
again whether the Voting Rights Act should be renewed and
whether segregated schools should be tax exempt, we say, Mr.
President: Those debates are over.

On the issue of civil, voting rights and affirmative action
for minorities, we must not go backwards. We must - and we will -
move forward to open the doors of opportunity.

To those who understand that our country cannot prosper
unless we draw on the talents of all Americans, we say: We will
pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The issue is not what America
can do for women, but what women can do for America.

To the Americans who will lead our country into the 21st
century, we say: We will not have a Supreme Court that turns the
clock back to the 19th century.

To those concerned about the strength of American family
values, as I am, I say: We are going to restore those values -
love, caring, partnership - by including, and not excluding,
those whose beliefs differ from our own. Because our own faith
is strong, we will fight to preserve the freedom of faith for
others.

To those working Americans who fear that banks, utilities,
and large special interests have a lock on the White House, we
say: Join us; let's elect a people's president; and let's have
government by and for the American people again.

To an Administration that would savage student loans and
education at the dawn of a new technological age, we say: You
fit the classic definition of a cynic; you know the price of
everything, but the value of nothing.

To our students and their parents, we say: We will insist on
the highest standards of excellence because the jobs of the
future require skilled minds.

To young Americans who may be called to our country's
service, we say: We know your generation of Americans will
proudly answer our country's call, as each generation before
you.

This past year, we remembered the bravery and sacrifice of
Americans at Normandy. And we finally paid tribute - as we
should have done years ago - to that unknown soldier who
represents all the brave young Americans who died in Vietnam.

Let no one doubt, we will defend America's security and the
cause of freedom around the world. But we want a president who
tells us what America is fighting for, not just what we are
fighting against. We want a president who will defend human
rights - not just where it is convenient - but wherever freedom
is at risk - from Chile to Afghanistan, from Poland to South
Africa.

To those who have watched this administration's confusion in
the Middle East, as it has tilted first toward one and then
another of Israel's long-time enemies and wondered. "Will
America stand by her friends and sister democracy?" We say:
America knows who her friends are in the Middle East and around
the world.

America will stand with Israel always.

Finally, we want a President who will keep America strong,
but use that strength to keep America and the world at peace. A
nuclear freeze is not a slogan: It is a tool for survival in the
nuclear age. If we leave our children nothing else, let us leave
them this Earth as we found it - whole and green and full of
life.

I know in my heart that Walter Mondale will be that
president.

A wise man once said, "Every one of us is given the gift of
life, and what a strange gift it is. If it is preserved
jealously and selfishly, it impoverishes and saddens. But if it
is spent for others, it enriches and beautifies."

My fellow Americans: We can debate policies and programs.
But in the end what separates the two parties in this election
campaign is whether we use the gift of life - for others or only
ourselves.

Tonight, my husband, John, and our three children are in
this hall with me. To my daughters, Donna and Laura, and my son,
John Jr., I say: My mother did not break faith with me . . . and
I will not break faith with you. To all the children of America,
I say: The generation before ours kept faith with us, and like
them, we will pass on to you a stronger, more just America.